MODULE 7

MEASURES OF CENTRALITY, LOCATION AND VARIATION

I. Introduction
This module for independent study in Educational Statistics aims to provide
graduate students with insights on different Measures of Centrality, Location and
Variation.
II. Learning Concepts
Measures of Centrality, Location and Variation
1. Compute the Mean for ungroup and group data
2. Learn when to compute and use the median
3. Compute for the Standard Deviation
4. Discuss how to use Correlation

III. Learning Objectives

After working with this module, the graduate students are expected to gain
understanding in the different measures of centrality, location, and variation.
IV. Learning Activities/Methodologies

1. Individual Study of the Concepts

2. Concept Reading
3. Answering the Guide Questions

V. Concept Map

Means of
Evaluation study
Topics/Concepts Objectives Learning
Guide
Concept

Measures of Compute the The Mean is How do we compute

Centrality, Location, Mean for Group another term for for the mean of
and Variation and Ungroup arithmetic Group and Ungroup
Data average. If you Data?
1. Means have computed
an “Average”,
you have
computed a
Mean
2. Median Learn when to The Median is When do we need to
Compute, How to computed and compute for the
Compute and use used when 50% Median? How do we
the median point of a scale compute for the
distribution is to median
be located
3. Standard Compute for the The Standard How do we compute
Deviation standard Deviation is a for the Standard
Deviation numerical value Deviation
used to indicate
how widely
 individuals in a
group vary
4. Correlation Discuss how to Correlation is a How do we
use and interpret measure to determined the
correlation determine the degree of relationship
degree of between attributes?
relationship out
of two sets

VI. Learning Context (Key Concepts)

LEARNING CHUNK 1
MEASURES OF CENTRALITY, LOCATION AND VARIATION
When given a set of observation form a sample, one of the things we
would want to know is a value that is characteristic of the group. This value must
best describe the group and be a representative of all the observations. This
value is termed as the measure of central tendency.
A measure of centrality, location and variation is typical value or a
representative value of a set of data.
The Mean – is the average o numbers: a calculated “central” Value of a
set of numbers.
To calculate: just add up all the numbers, and then divided by how many
numbers are there.
Example: What is the mean of 2, 7, and 9?
Add the numbers: 2+7+9 = 18
The most commonly used measure of central tendency is the mean. It
usually referred to as the average.
For a given data, the mean х is the sum of all n values divided by the total
frequency.
The mean may be found among the values in a given set of data.
Sometimes, however, it is not in the group of data. These statements are
illustrated in the following examples.
Example 1:
Solve for the mean of the set 1, 5, 3, 9, 7
Solution:
x = 1+5+3+9+7 = 25 = 5
5 5
Note that 5 is also an observation.
Example 2:
Suppose a basketball team has 15 players and the heights (in cm) are as
follows:
180 204 188 184 189 190 190 200
 193 186 186 187 182 201 187
Find the mean height of the players.(189 cm is the of the players)
This is the representative height of players in the team. Another team with
an average height of 18cm is considered a shorter team.
VII. Synthesis/Summary
The three measures centrality, location and variation include the following: The
mean, median and mode. Chunk 1 focuses on the Mean which is the arithmetic
average.

CHUNK 2
Median
The median is the centremost observation that divides the ranked values into
halves, such that half of the observations (50%) is larger than it, while the other half (the
remaining 50%) is smaller.
The median (Md) is the middle value in a set of observations arranged from
highest to lowest or vice versa.
Hence, to get the value of the median we arranged the observations from highest
to lowest or from lowest to highest. The observation at the middle is considered the
median.
Example 1:
Considered again the heights (in cm) of 15 basketball players listed on previous
example. Find the median height of the players.
Solution:
Let us arrange the heights from the shortest to the tallest and pick the height of
the middle player.
(180 182 184 186 187 187 188 189 190 190 193 200 201
204)
Since there are 15 players in the team, the eight observation is the median.
In general, if n is odd the median of the observation corresponds to the n+1/2 th
observation.

Synthesis/Summary
Median is a single value from the data set that measures the central item in the
table. This single value is middlemost or most central item in the set of scores. Half of
the scores lie about this point and the other half lie below it.
Median – the centremost observation of a set data. If n is odd, Md is the n+1/2th
observation. If n is even, Md is the average of the n/2th and the n+2/2th observation.
CHUNCK 3
MODE
There is another type of average known as the mode. It is generally associated
with nominal data. Suppose a department store sold 50 t shirts in a day with following
breakdown in sales.
Size of T-shirt Number of T-shirt
Small 16
Medium 22
Large 10
Extra Large 2
Total 50

Since the medium size sold the most number, it has the highest frequency. The
mode is therefore the medium – sized T shirt.
The mode (Mo) is the observation which occurs the most often in a set of values.
Given a set of data, the mode is the observation with the highest frequency. The
mode is must always be a value in the set of data.
Take another example. The table given below details the number of shoes sold in
a department store. Find the mode of the distribution.
Size of Shoe Number of Pairs Sold
4 4
4½ 6
5 10
5½ 10
6 5
6½ 3
7 1

Evaluating the data tells us the highest number of sold is 10, which is the number
sold for those with sizes 5 and 5 ½ . Therefore, there are two models 5 and 5 ½ . We
may say that data is bimodal.

CHOOSING THE MEASURES OF CENTRALITY, LOCATION, AND VARIATION

In choosing the appropriate measures of centrality, location, and variations, we
consider the following guidelines.
1. Generally, the mean is appropriate for interval and ratio variables, the median
for ordinal statistics, and the mode, for nominal data
2. The mode is preferred for groups of data which do not tend to group around a
central point like bimodal set of data with the modes at the extreme ends of
the distribution.
3. The median best measures the central tendency of groups which contains
extreme values if the set has only one mode (unimodal).
CHUNK 4
STANDARD DEVIATION
The standard deviation is a numerical value used to indicate how widely
individuals in a group vary. If individual observations vary greatly from the group mean,
the standard deviation is “big” and vice versa.
It is important to distinguish between the standard deviation of population and the
standard deviation of a sample. They have different notation, and they are computed
differently. The standard deviation of population is denoted by 0 and standard deviation
of sample, by s.
The standard deviation of a population is defined by the following formula
0 = sqrt{(x-x2/N}.

Where 0 is the population standard deviation, the element from that population
and N is the number of elements in a population. The standard deviation, of sample is
defined by slightly different formula.
S = sqrt{(x – x)2/(n – 1)}
Where S is the sample standard deviation, x is the sample of mean. X is the
element from the population. This equation, the standard deviation of the sample is an
unable estimate of the standard deviation of the population. Finally, the standard
deviation is equal to the square root of the variance.

CORRELATION
CHUNK 5
Correlation – is measured of the statistical relationship between two comparable
time series. Given a set of observation the formula for computing correlation coefficient
is given by:
The correlation coefficient always takes a value between -1 and 1 or -1
indicating perfect correlation (all points would lie along a straight line in this case). A
positive correlation indicates a positive association between the variables (increasing
values in one variable correspond to increasing values in the other variable) while a
negative correlation indicate a negative between the variables (increasing value is one
variable correspond to decreasing values in the variable) a correlation value close to 0
indicates no association between the variables. Since the formula for calculating the
correlation coefficient standardizes the variables, changes in scale or units of
measurement will not affect its value. For this reason the correlation coefficient is often
useful than a graphical depiction in determining the strength of the association between
two variables.

VIII. Synthesis/Summary
In statistics, a centrality, location and variation (or more commonly, a measures
of central tendency) is a central value or a typical value for a probability distribution.
It is occasionally called average or just the center of the distribution. The most
common measures of central tendency are the arithmetic mean, the median and
mode. A central tendency can be calculated for either a finite set of values or for a
theoretical distribution. Occasionally authors use central tendency (or centrality), to
mean “the tendency of quantitative data to cluster around some central value,” this
meaning might be expected from the usual dictionary definitions of the words
tendency and centrality. Those authors may judge whether data has a strong or a
weak central tendency based on the statistical dispersion as measured by the
standard deviation or something similar.